If prompted to think of “the Proverbs Woman”, anyone who has read a handful of books, skimmed a few blogs, or heard a sermon or two aimed at Christian women will automatically call to mind the Proverbs 31 woman. Land investor, wise guru, accomplished seamstress, careful shopper, generous philanthropist, and dependable wife and mother all rolled into one, she’s perhaps the most referred to biblical “example” for Christian women. But I don’t want to talk about her today. It’s a different woman of Proverbs I want to talk about…

About The Author

Mrs. Chancey is the mother of 12 children, all of whom keep the household bubbling with life, learning, and levity. Jennie co-founded LAF in 2002 with Lydia Sherman and has been delighted to hear from women all over the world who enjoy their femininity and love to cultivate womanly virtues.

Comments

3 Responses to “The Proverbs Woman… no, not THAT one! (part 1)”

Oh I love this article: the little hint of humour makes it so easy to read, but at the same time it leads you to deeper conviction and to an examination of our own behaviour.
Thank you for posting it here.

I think that people should realize the man Solomon himself to understand this passage. Solomon married 1,000 wives which he wasn’t suppose to do as even a king is warned not to take too many wives. (Deuteronomy 17:17) lest they turn his heart away which is what happened to Solomon. Solomon himself in 7:28 Ecclesiastes laments that out of 1,000 women he did not find one who was righteous but found 1 in a 1,000 in men which some feel he was alluding to the women he married that they turned him away from God although this was partly his fault.

Solomon’s poem talks about various good traits in women likely not all possessed in one woman since he had so many wives. And much of what he said is mentioned in other parts of the bible which of course he himself says that all of what he found God spoke of.

In fact ironically God warns the Jewish people when they decide to have a king he can abuse his power and take their daughters as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. (Samuel I 1:13) So God recognizes specific jobs that were more likely to go to women to serve the king.

It is strange that we use a man who went out of bounds with women as someone to discuss women and we don’t even realize the reality of Solomon’s own life which I think is the caveat here. He was married to many, many women so he wrote a poem mentioning the various good traits in women but this wasn’t one woman that had it all.
To get a more balanced picture I think a person needs to focus on other parts of the bible and the bible as a whole.

As someone Jewish we are suppose to say this prayer Friday night. (Sadly there is no prayer for a woman to say to a man as his role during the week is not easy either.) Judaism also has a problem in terms of not thinking much of the rank and file man. Our Rabbi’s view themselves as more important then a child’s father in terms of spiritual development and I have to disagree as studies to show that fathers are important in teaching a boy many important values and isn’t just the man that helped create the son with half of his genes as some Rabbi’s claim he is only there for physical reasons.

Anyway, I really feel the most important understanding you receive of a woman’s role is from the first book in the bible which is the first book read and I think there is a good reason why God started the bible with many stories involving a husband and wife and their sons as these stories clearly show that men and women have different area’s that their major sphere of influence was and they have more knowledge of and one thing that is clear here is woman protected their sons from bad influences that they felt would ruin their morals and were more alert to it then the men were spending more time in this sphere and recognizing that Ishamel and her mother and Esau could not be part of the blessing or in Ishmael’s case when he became an adult part of the household nor could his mother Hagar.

HI, Adam! Just a really quick note that Solomon didn’t write Proverbs 31. The description of the woman given in this passage was by King Lemuel’s mother, telling her son how kings should behave and what to look for in a wife. So this is a woman’s description of how full-orbed a woman should be. 🙂

LAF/BW.org is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We also use other affiliate vendors and advertising methods to keep the lights on here. Thanks for supporting us!